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Player Discussion Drake Batherson (RW) - Part II

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Sens of Anarchy said:
Not sure we see a double but yah.. I'd like to see him take that next step in leading.. Don't be just a good player drive the team; set the pace.. I think he's got it in him.
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Get a touch of meanness to his game. A bit of attitude. Like, hell yeah, I belong here and I'm not taking shit from anyone kind of attitude.

If he makes a point of carving out his space a bit more, he'll really be something.
 
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bert said:
Tkachuk Pinto Batherson as a possession dominating first line could render incredible results for this team if they want to be a playoff team. Big line with high IQ players that could tire out the opposition.
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Give me Tkachuk Norris Batherson with a 100% healthy Norris and watch Drake outscore Stu
 
bert said:
Pinto is a better player than Norris. I dont think its really close either.


He did and Pinto came to stay with him for 2 weeks as well.
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Good to hear that Pinto got some of that experience. Probably bodes well for him. Those are, IMO, probably our two most coachable forwards. I feel like they'll both maximize learning in those situations.

Pinto is great but I think a fully healthy Norris is a better player (at this point at least). In his breakout year he was a legit 40 goal threat and was developing a good two way game. The Norris of last year, playing with one arm, is not as good as Pinto though. I'm hoping we get a fully healthy Norris at least through the second half of this year. I have my doubts though.
 
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Alf Silfversson said:
Good to hear that Pinto got some of that experience. Probably bodes well for him. Those are, IMO, probably our two most coachable forwards. I feel like they'll both maximize learning in those situations.

Pinto is great but I think a fully healthy Norris is a better player (at this point at least). In his breakout year he was a legit 40 goal threat and was developing a good two way game. The Norris of last year, playing with one arm, is not as good as Pinto though. I'm hoping we get a fully healthy Norris at least through the second half of this year. I have my doubts though.
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Pinto to me is a much better defensive player than Norris. Norris was a better goal scorer that year no doubt and its a higher peak than we have seen from Pinto. But I dont think Pinto is close to being done developing. He has had some spirts that I have found him more dominant from an eye test perspective than Norris ever was. He is a late bloomer, I think when he starts to get more consistent and can put together longer stretches there is a player with some very high upside. His skillset and package has a matchup center that will tilt the ice all over it. I think he has better puck distribution skills than Norris.
 
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Norris is not getting enough respect.

Pinto needs to show he can be consistent before I will even consider he may, eventually, get better than Norris.

Norris is going to force people to remember how good he was before his injury this season.
 
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OD99 said:
Norris is not getting enough respect.

Pinto needs to show he can be consistent before I will even consider he may, eventually, get better than Norris.

Norris is going to force people to remember how good he was before his injury this season.
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He was playing stellar defensive hockey before the Octoberfest Coyotes game, the points would have came eventually.
 
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OD99 said:
Norris is not getting enough respect.

Pinto needs to show he can be consistent before I will even consider he may, eventually, get better than Norris.

Norris is going to force people to remember how good he was before his injury this season.
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People are just worried about health wrt Norris, we haven't seen a healthy Norris since 21-22.

He hurt his shoulder after Xmas that year but came back and finished the year scoring nearly a pt per game after missing a month.
 
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Norris just knows how to score in the NHL though, sometimes it wasn't flashy and looked repetitive and low creativity but the puck would convincingly and consistently end up in the back of the net, which is invaluable, AND he was the defensive player on his line.

Would have been fun to see who became the better player without injuries. Hopefully we still get the chance.
 
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Micklebot said:
People are just worried about health wrt Norris, we haven't seen a healthy Norris since 21-22.

He hurt his shoulder after Xmas that year but came back and finished the year scoring nearly a pt per game after missing a month.
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I understand it, but I am not ready to write him off. He is so young, he can bounce back.

His skating isn't affected by his shoulder and I think people are forgetting how smooth and quick he is.
 
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bert said:
Pinto is a better player than Norris. I dont think its really close either.
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Maybe last season and going forward but I doubt Pinto ever comes close to having a stretch where he scores 47 goals in 91 games, which is what Norris did just before the 2022-23 season.

Pinto hasn't done this analytically too :

https://x.com/i/web/status/1371217067513372682

This was his rookie season in 2020-21 and before "JFresh lolz comments", note that there's plenty of Selke level forwards in that list and great defensive forwards. The only few surprises were there because of a favorable deployment and put in a position to succeed but it was not Norris case, he was facing top competition night after night.
 
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apollo18 said:
had a good feeling he was gonna explode this year but has been a tad cold
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Yep, called it during the Habs game. He was doing the little things right:
1728942038442.png
 
swiftwin said:
Yep, called it during the Habs game. He was doing the little things right:
View attachment 916670
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What a call. Batherson broke out 3 years ago, he has averaged 67 pts per 82 games over the last 3 seasons (23 to 25 y/o) and that's including a season where he was not at his best, recovering from a pretty bad injury from a cheap shot

He could break out "even more" but he's already not that far from PPG, not easy to reach that mark. But we'll see. I've been a huge Drake fan for years so I'm hoping it happens
 
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He needs to be on the right with Brady and Tim.

Brady needs to be the slowest winger on his line for it to be effective. Giroux’s pace makes Brady have to stretch out the ice more, and keeps him away from more stationary battle areas.

Batherson can forecheck and keep it moving in the neutral zone. Will unlock Brady as a result.
 
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Isn't it insane that we did him dirty all those years covering Formenton's ass and let him take all that vitriol and slander online? It's so incomprehensible. This guy's a saint.
 
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